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On April 30th 1944, during the US Navy carrier strikes on Japanese shipping in Truk between April 29th and May 1st, two Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes were launched from the battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55) to locate fighter pilot Lt. Robert Kanze from USS Enterprise (CV-6) who was reported shot down. The two Kingfishers, piloted by Lt. J.J. Doble and Lt. John Burns, soon spotted the downed pilot afloat in his life raft and Doble landed to pick him up. As Kanze grabbed the wing float, he was lifted out of his raft. A wave then hit the float broadside which with his weight on the float, submerged it and caused the Kingfisher to capsize throwing Doble and his radioman R. E. Hill into the water. The three were able to retrieve the raft and hold onto it. Burns observed all of this and landed to pick up all three. With five men aboard, the Kingfisher could not take off so Burns taxied to the submarine USS Tang (SS-306) that was on surfaced nearby on “lifeguard“ duty. The sub then sank Doble's st
